JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015 - 4

point of view: business development

Surface Generation:
Spreading break-through moulding technology

Ben Halford
CHief exeCutive
Surface Generation

JEC Composites Magazine:
Can you summarize in a few
words your technical solution and
its uncommon modular approach
on moulding?

Ben Halford : PtFS

manages the temperature of
mould tool surfaces via forced air
heating and cooling using multiple air streams applied to the
back face of the mould tool in
pixelated arrays. This approach
allows the optimized delivery of
energy, in the right areas of the
tool, at the right time, resulting
in increased precision, reduced
cycle time and lower energy
consumption.
Proprietary software allows users
to map these pixels into zones

and apply complex cure profiles
controlled by logic functions to
maintain precise control of the
mould face during the heat, hold
and cool down phases of any
given cure / cycle. In addition
the thermocouple and power
data from each pixel can be analysed and / or logged for quality
purposes to prove the efficacy of
each component and encrypted
for archiving if required.
In this way we offer users the
chance to varying control fidelity
and power with processing issues
fixed in software. Energy is used
as and when required and it is
very normal to see PtFS systems
cooling areas during ramp up
and heating areas during ramp
down to keep everything in tolerance. Essentially we are moving from traditional 'analogue'

systems to a 'digital' PtFS future.
JCM: Faster curing process, adaptivity, shorter production cycle,
everything in your products is
designed to seduce the Automotive sector. How is your product
spread on this sector?

interview

As the privately owned technology company opens two new
facilities in Asia and Europe, Ben Halford, Chief Executive,
explains how the British start-up managed to overcome the
global financial crisis and seize opportunities to sustain its
business development.

lt is essential to have
a clear understanding of the market
opportunity to allow
you to not only talk to
the customer but also
investors.

B. H. : I think the benefits
we offer with PtFS allow us to
work equally across a number
of sectors beyond Automotive.
If we ignore the single sided LS
thermoset curing solutions that
we offer Aerospace, today we
are limiting this to high-pressure
injection moulding and low
pressure foam processing using
our matched RS tooling for
thermoplastic production applications. That is not to say this
is the limit as we are also working
on die casting, hot sheet metal

About Surface Generation
Established in 2002, Surface Generation develop and commercialise the Production
to Functional Specification (PtFS) technology. Clients use PtFS to optimise their use of
advanced composite materials like carbon fibre so they can manufacture products such
as aircraft wings, consumer devices or automotive components much more efficiently
than is possible with traditional manufacturing techniques. PtFS enables a paradigm
shift in cost, quality and delivery that provides fast (up to 95% lower cycle time) and
energy efficient (up to 95% less) solutions to the world's manufacturing OEMs and
material suppliers.

4 jec composites magazine / No98 July - August 2015

Thermoplastic and the thermoset processing sites

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015